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The Nth Degree (episode)
After an encounter with an alien probe, Lt. Barclay's IQ is raised making him the smartest Human in history. Summary Prologue Reg Barclay and Dr. Crusher perform a scene from Cyrano de Bergerac in Ten Forward before a handful of crew, including the senior officers. Beverly's performance is great as Cyrano's love interest but a woman already in love with another man, Cyrano's compatriot. But Barclay's performance, as Cyrano himself, complete with long prosthetic nose, is awkward, halting and somewhat embarrassing to watch. Despite this lackluster performance, the crew present claps for both Crusher and Barclay. Data joins in after a quick question to Riker about why everyone is clapping, and Riker's reply that it is simply polite. Troi compliments Barclay, saying it takes a lot of confidence to throw himself out there and act, but Barclay doesn't feel too confident. He sits awkwardly at the table. The ''Enterprise''-D arrives at the Argus Array, a gigantic subspace telescope whose reactors have gone critical. A huge amount of time is estimated for its repair, but of more pressing concern is the probe now holding station near the array, determined to be the cause of its malfunctions. Barclay and Geordi La Forge take a shuttle out to examine the probe, but after a few unsuccessful scans, the probe emits a super-bright flash and knocks Barclay unconscious. Act One Barclay, in sickbay, awakens to the news from Crusher that the flash overloaded his optic nerves, and that was what knocked him unconscious; La Forge's VISOR must have filtered out the bright light. Because of this incident, Barclay gains a new self-confidence, and the full effects of this are slowly realized by the crew. In addition to gaining self confidence, Barclay has become extremely intelligent in all areas of study. His new intelligence is caused by neurotransmitters hypersecreting in his brain, and his two cranial hemispheres fusing; in effect, turning Barclay into a savant. He can be seen in the holodeck correcting a virtual Einstein, rehearsing a scene from a play with Dr. Crusher that causes her to tear up, and confidently hitting on Counseler Troi. Eventually, Barclay suggests a method to help fix the deep space telescope, in two days, over La Forge's estimate of several weeks. Upon beginning Barclay's plan, he realizes that the computer is too slow to execute his commands, and proceeds to the holodeck. Once in the holodeck, Barclay instructs the computer on how to create a Human-to-computer interface, and then fuses with the computer, completing the assignment. In doing so, he locks out the main bridge from using the computer, with Barclay now acting as the computer, and this causes discomfort among the crew. Against Picard's orders, Barclay initiates a subspace warp that transfers the Enterprise to the center of the galaxy. Upon arriving, a Cytherian reveals himself to the bridge crew. Barclay explains that the Cytherians are on a similar mission to that of the Enterprise, in that they want to explore the galaxy to learn. But instead of the Cytherians traveling away from their home, they bring those they are interested in to them. The crew then realizes they are in no harm, as can be seen by Commander Riker's grin. After a few days of exchanging information, the Cytherians send the Enterprise back to Federation space. In a final scene in Ten Forward, Barclay is seen with La Forge and Troi, and they are discussing how Barclay is back to his old self. La Forge asks Barclay for help with a Level 3 diagnostic, when Counselor Troi interrupts Barclay, telling him that he owed her a walk in the arboretum. It appears that Barclay is back to normal, when he goes up to a group playing chess, and tells them how to finish the game in nine moves. Troi exclaims that she did not know Barclay played chess, and Barclay, in his nervous voice, states that he doesn't. Memorable Quotes "It just occurred to me that I could set up a frequency harmonic between the deflector and the shield grid... using the warp field generator as a power flow anti-attenuator and that of course naturally created an amplification of the inherent energy output." "Uh huh, I see that." : - Reginald Barclay and William Riker "I've finally become the person I've always wanted to be. Do we have to ask why?" : - Reginald Barclay "Emotive, electrochemical stimulus response; cranial plate; bipedal locomotion. Endoskeletal. Contiguous external integument." "I'm Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of the Federation Starship Enterprise." "Hierarchical collective command structure." "Who are you?" "Interrogative!" : - Cytherian alien and Jean-Luc Picard "Worf, I have an opening in my workshop." : - Beverly Crusher to Worf after the Cyrano de Bergerac play "You just spent the entire night arguing Grand Unification Theories with Albert Einstein!" : - Geordi La Forge to Reginald Barclay Background Information * Jim Norton plays the holographic Albert Einstein again in . * This episode has one of the longest teasers in the franchise, around seven minutes long. * Kay E. Kuter later plays the Sirah in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode . * This is not the first Federation starship named Enterprise to travel to the center of the galaxy. In , the ''Enterprise''-A traveled to the galactic center under the control of Sybok, where they met a god-like alien. Links and References Guest Stars *Dwight Schultz as Reginald Barclay *Saxon Trainor as Linda Larson *Page Leong as April Anaya *Jim Norton as Albert Einstein *David Coburn as Brower *Kay E. Kuter as Cytherian Uncredited Co-Stars *Guy Vardaman as Darien Wallace *Michael Braveheart as Martinez *Carl Banks as Russell *Tracee Lee Cocco as Jae *Cameron as Kellogg *George Colucci as Security Crewman *B.J. Davis as Security Crewman *Richard Sarstedt as Command Division Officer *Keith Rayve as Command division crewman References alpha-numeric console; ångström; arboretum; Argus Array; baron; corpus callosum; cosmological constant; de Bergerac, Hercule-Savinien De Cyrano; de Neuvillette, Christien; Cyrano de Bergerac; computer core; Cytherian; Cytherian probe; electromagnetic band; fusion reactor; Galilei, Galileo; Gott, Gruss; Grand Unification theory; graviton field; helium; iconic display console; intelligence quotient; isolinear chip; isolinear circuits; Kohlan system; level 3 diagnostic; Method approach, The; music school; neural scan interface; neurotransmitter; neuron densitometer; ODN bypass; optic nerve; passive high-resolution series; photon torpedo; Porte de Nesle; positron emission test; quantum principle; Science Station 402; Socrates; sero-amino readout; shield grid; Shuttle Five; subspace continuum; subspace distortion; theatre; Theory of General Relativity; three-dimensional chess; violin; VISOR; warp nacelle; watt; zalnias |next= }} Nth Degree, The de:Die Reise ins Ungewisse es:The Nth Degree nl:The Nth Degree